


Insecurities and Intuition

by griffxtrn



Category: The Tunnel (TV)
Genre: Contains spoilers for The Tunnel Season 2, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Intimacy, Older Man/Younger Woman, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-22 08:08:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8278834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/griffxtrn/pseuds/griffxtrn
Summary: Taking place immediately after the last episode of Season 2, Elise returns home from the hospital. She decides to call Karl after she is unable to sleep.





	1. Elise's Apartment

**Author's Note:**

> This was mainly written as a gift for a friend (you know who you are!), but it is also for anyone who really shipped Elise & Karl while watching the series. This is will be a continuing fic, and will showcase both of their personal growth & dealings with grief and trauma as they move on with their lives.

_Karl placed his hand over Elise’s._

_“You don’t need to find your long lost twin,” he said. “You’re an exceptional person in your own right.”_

_Elise stared at him, a tear dripping down her face._

_“You’re **you** ,” he said._

* * *

“You know,” Karl continued. “I never did get the chance to say this.” He shifted in his seat on the edge of Elise’s hospital bed. “… But if I had lost you back there. I would’ve just been _done_. I would have fallen and I wouldn’t have been able to get back up. Not without you.”

His eyes dashed around the room but finally, he looked back at Elise. “I was angry,” he said. “When The Chemist chose you. Between the two of us, I should be the one to go. God knows I’ve done enough terrible things in my life.”

“You’re not a bad person, Karl.”

He sighed. “When I saw you fall unconscious…”

He lifted her hand and placed it in his, properly this time. “You’ve been kidnapped twice this year, Elise.” He smiled, though his solemn expression didn’t change. “Don’t you ever do that again, alright? _I can’t ever lose you._ I can’t bear it.”

He seemed about to say something more, but Karl pressed his lips together in a tight line.

“I will do my best not to get kidnapped again,” Elise said matter-of-factly. Karl chuckled in response.

* * *

Elise had returned to her apartment from the hospital early in the afternoon. Everything was exactly as she had left it. Dishes were still piled high in the sink, and upon her desk, which sat in the center of the room, she could see her laptop and all of her notes from the last police case she worked on. Noticing that dust had just started to accumulate on her tables while she was gone, she began to clean. Most of the time Elise loathed cleaning, but this time she welcomed it—she needed something to put her mind off the events of the past few weeks.

She wanted to forget Artem Baturin, Robert Fournier and Rosa Persaud, the plane crash, The Chemist… Gaël and Eryka… All of it.

Elise tried to occupy her time with everything that would take her mind off this. She worked on her homework for her leadership course, forced herself to eat some food (though in truth she felt nauseous, despite her empty stomach), and even opened a new book that she had bought months before and never read.

By the time it was the evening, she prepared to head to bed early. She moved the sheets off her mattress and forced herself to lay down, feeling comfortable at last away from the hard beds and bright lights of the hospital.

She tried to close her eyes, very carefully… But she couldn’t sleep. She remembered being tied to a chair, helpless to do anything, the voice of Karl shouting in panic right beside her as The Chemist prepared his needle, pointing it at her face—

Elise shivered. She stared at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to make a decision when at last she got up and walked over to her bag and grabbed her cell phone.

She dialled him without even considering that he might be too far away.

 _Don’t answer,_ she thought, feeling angry at herself. _I don’t deserve it._

“Hey,” she heard him say in a muffled voice.

“Karl. Where are you?”

“At a coffee shop with BB eating some sweets. I’m impressed they understood our French.” Elise could hear BB on the other side of the line, laughing.

“Karl—” Elise began, but she wasn’t sure how to ask what she wanted to ask.

“Elise?” he said, sounding concerned. “Are you doing alright?”

Elise paused. “No,” she said. “I don’t… I don’t think I am.”

“Do you want me to come over?”

Elise nodded with her phone to her ear, despite the fact that Karl couldn’t see her. He knew her better than she thought, as he replied to the silence: “Okay. I’ll come and bring you some sweets, then. I’m about ten minutes out.”

“Do you still have my keys?” Elise asked. She had given him a spare pair when she was in the hospital, and Karl had kindly gone to retrieve some of her personal belongings.

“Yup. Be there in a jiff.”

Elise hung up the phone and sat back on her mattress. She nearly rubbed her eyes in frustration, but stopped herself, remembering the doctor’s orders. An overwhelming wave of emotion came over her, and her lips felt dry.

The apartment was _cold_. She tried to turn up the heat, but, knowing it would take a while to start working, she removed all her clothes instead and went into the shower.

She put the water on the hottest setting and sat in the bathtub with her arms wrapped around her legs, naked and vulnerable and cold and shivering.

* * *

Karl opened Elise’s apartment door with a slight bit of struggle. “Elise,” he called as he entered, closing the door behind him.

He placed the small bag of sweets in Elise’s fridge, which itself was not particularly full of groceries. He made a mental note to go shopping for her before he went back home.

Karl looked around the small apartment, even checking Elise’s bedroom but she was nowhere to be found. It was only when he walked by the bathroom that he realized the shower was running—he had assumed she was not in there because the light was turned off.

Karl knocked lightly with the back of his knuckles. “Elise, I’m here.”

Elise didn’t reply. Karl hesitated. He shouldn’t go in there… should he?

He turned the doorknob and flicked on the light, still unable to see Elise behind her shower curtain.

“Turn it off,” Elise said.

“You won’t be able to see anything if it’s on,” Karl protested, but all the same he flicked the switch back off. The only light source was coming from a small window at the top right of the bathroom wall.

“Elise,” Karl said, staring at the shower curtain between them. It was patterned with grey umbrellas on a turquoise background. “What’s going on, eh?”

She wouldn’t reply. Karl stood there for a few moments in silence. With no other sound than the shower water pelting repetitively against the tub floor, he knew Elise was motionless on the other side. She was more than just upset.

Karl swore at himself in his head—he knew if Laura found out about this, he would be in major trouble. He sighed. It wasn’t as though he was cheating—he would just comfort her. Elise needed a friend, especially after what The Chemist had done to her… to both of them.

He removed his clothing, sighing tiredly from the long day as steam rose from the top of Elise’s shower. He took off his jacket and his shirt, and hesitated removing his pants, but he didn’t have an extra pair—and he knew the chance of Elise having any men’s jeans in her apartment was slim. He stopped at his boxers, but after glancing at all of Elise’s clothing on the floor, he took them off as well.

He moved the shower curtain aside and walked in, and then moved it back closed behind him.

Elise sat at the bottom of the bathtub, and he picked her up—“Come on,” he said kindly—and brought her to stand. She was looking down, though not at him. Her eyes were half-closed, she had been crying.

“Oh, Elise,” Karl said sadly, seeing her expression. He pulled her arms around him and pressed his body to hers in a hug.

“You’re shivering, Elise,” Karl said.

“I’m so cold,” Elise said quietly, between sobs. She rested her chin on his collarbone.

Elise’s body felt warm, in fact, _too warm_. She still had her fever from this morning. But Karl knew that he had been wearing enough layers that his body was not cold either. Perhaps it would help. He clung to her tighter.

“I remembered The Chemist,” Elise said.

“He’s gone now, Elise. He can’t harm you.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted.

Karl sighed. He ran a hand over her long blonde hair. “Some days, I can’t either.”

“We should help each other then,” Elise replied, her voice hushed. Karl could feel her shaking, taking deep, ragged breaths.

“We will. We’ll help each other.” They remained in an embrace until she ran out of tears. Karl moved her away to wipe her cheeks with his hands.

“I was thinking of my sister,” Elise said, her eyes closed. She leaned forward to rest her forehead on his chest.

“Were you?”

“The feeling of helplessness. I thought I was going to die.” She paused. “I thought, maybe this is how she was feeling too. Right before…”

Elise sniffled, licking her lips. She moved back a bit and traced her fingers lightly over Karl’s arms, the muscles of his shoulders, and his neck, as if seeing him for the first time.

Karl shook his head slowly—he wanted to take all her pain, and rid her of it; carry it himself instead. Elise’s hand had reached his jaw, her fingers wrapping behind his ears, and she pulled his face down to her.

Karl couldn’t help it. He knew he shouldn’t, he knew it wasn’t right, but at that moment there was no one else he wanted to be with. He parted his lips and kissed her, both their faces wet from the shower. Her lips felt smooth, and her body felt soft—Karl closed his eyes and ran his hands across her waist and around her back as she lifted herself taller on her toes. The kissed each other slowly, like they had all the time in the world.

When their faces separated, Elise looked into his eyes, although she still wouldn’t let go of him. Karl smiled his lazy smile and Elise kissed him slowly once more, before embracing him.

Elise looked down at both their naked bodies, for a moment hesitant, and they both started laughing quietly.

“I should go,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll let you finish your shower,” he said. Elise nodded to him, her eyes bright and full of energy.

He kissed her on her neck, and once more on her lips, and let her go. Elise still held his hand until he walked past the shower curtain. Karl dried himself off with one of Elise’s towels and put his clothes back on.

He smiled tiredly at the shower curtain before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Karl was reading, sitting up on Elise’s bed with his glasses on when Elise got out of the bathroom. She wore a thin tank top and a pair of shorts and got under the sheets beside him.

“Can you stay?” she said into her pillow. “Until I fall asleep?”

“Of course.”

After a moment, she added, with a yawn: “You can sleep over as well, if you’d like.”

Karl half-smiled, flipping a page of the newspaper in front of him.

“Karl?” Elise said again.

“Hmm?”

Her words were so subdued, Karl had to strain to listen.

“Could you hold me?”

He put down the newspaper on the bedside table and got under the sheets beside Elise. He pressed his body to her—they both _fit_ together so well. Like two pieces of a puzzle that had finally been brought together.

Elise tucked his arm under hers and intertwined their hands together. She fell asleep, truly comfortable for the first time. And though Karl still had his work clothes on, he fell asleep as well, to the soft sound of her breathing.

\--


	2. Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback of Elise’s birthday, where she decides to celebrate it by calling Karl to hang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an alternative to the scene on the show: instead of calling Eryka, Elise calls Karl. And we get to see the sparks of intimacy that eventually leads them to the event that occurred in Chapter 1.
> 
> This fic takes place specifically at the end of Episodes 4 & 5 of Season 2. Thanks for reading, and enjoy!

“Hello?” muttered Karl on the phone.

“Am I disturbing you?” asked Elise.

“Of course not. What’s up?”

“Do you want to go for a drink?”

Karl paused. “What, you mean right now?”

“No, tomorrow night. When you come back, when we’re finished work.”

Karl cleared his throat. “Yes, of course.”

Elise was going to continue conversation, but he sounded tired. “It’s late. I’ll text you the place.”

“Sure.”

“OK. Goodnight.”

“Night, Elise.”

* * *

Elise stared at herself in the mirror in the low-light of her flat. Her blonde hair was messy, but that was how she liked it. It was parted in the middle and falling over her shoulders. She wore her black jacket, not fully zipped up. She stared and stared, wondering why she wasn’t so happy with her appearance.

The door clicked open. Gaël entered the flat, and Elise heard his voice before she saw what he was holding.

 _“Joyeux anniversaire,”_ he sang. _“Joyeux anniversaire.”_ // “Happy birthday.”

She turned and saw a small cake in his hands, with strawberries on top and four candles which were lit. _“Joyeux-anniversaire, Elise,”_ he said, rushing the song. // “Happy birthday, Elise.”

Elise nearly said, _“Je doit aller,”_ // “I’ve got to go,” but she stopped herself. She thought, Karl wouldn’t have liked it if he had known she had treated her boyfriend like crap just before going to see him.

Gaël stared at her. She forced herself to take a breath. Then she said, _“Merci beaucoup. Mais je ne peux pas rester maintenant. Mets-le dans le réfrigérateur, Je reviendrai environ une heure.”_ // “Thank you. But I can’t stay. Put it in the fridge, I’ll return in about an hour.”

Gaël, thinking she was speaking of work, said, _“Je comprends.”_ // “I understand.”

 _“Aussi, je fêter pas mon anniversaire.”_ // “Also, I don’t celebrate my birthday.”

 _“D’accord. Je savais pas,”_ he said, sounding a little sad. // “OK. I didn’t know.”

She helped him put the cake down on the table and hugged him, and gave him a kiss. He seemed surprised but pleased.

 _“À tout à l'heure,”_ she said as she walked to the door and closed it behind her. // “See you later.”

* * *

Elise sat in her Porsche 944, putting eyeliner on by looking into her reflection in the rear-view mirror. She put it on slightly messy, but decided to leave it that way. She blinked, willing herself to have some confidence for once.

Elise picked up Karl in the parking lot outside her building, late in the evening. He had left his car there, and they decided to take hers to the bar-tabac. It was a nice little coffee shop.

“Happy birthday,” Karl said, sitting down. His clothing was messy, as if he was in a rush to put his sweater and coat on. His hair was neat, however. 

“My birthday was yesterday, and you already said that to me,” Elise said.

“We’re celebrating late, it deserves a repeat.” He waved his hand and a waiter came by, they both ordered coffees and a bit of food.

“Speaking of which,” he continued, “Here I thought you said you didn’t celebrate your birthday,” Karl said with a grin, as he waited for his drink to cool. “I must’ve dreamed it.”

Elise frowned. “I changed my mind last minute yesterday. I wanted to see you.”

Karl’s eyes widened. “Any particular reason?”

“No.”

“Well, I’m glad you called. I ended up having a terrible day today.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. At work or home?”

“Both.”

“What’s gotten into Laura?” Elise asked, which made Karl laugh.

“None the usual, other than the fact that she’ll probably never trust me again.” He shook his head, sighing. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“What about work?” Elise asked. “Did someone say something mean?”

“I told my boss to shove it,” Karl said honestly.

Elise’s mouth nearly fell open, and the expression on Karl’s face was one of amusement.

“Bowden’s keeping things about Vanessa Hamilton and her connection to Olena and this airplane case a secret. Called it a matter of National Security—he said it was above our heads. Bastard doesn’t even know the truth of what’s going on himself.”

“So what did you say?”

“I told him if he doesn't tell me what’s really going on, i’ll tell the world what I know so far and he’ll have to kill me to shut me up.”

Elise placed her hand on the table, though she didn’t dare try and touch his. “Karl you cannot just threaten your boss.”

“Bowden’s used to it,” he lied. “Okay, fine. But it was just this once.” Karl took a few gulps of his drink, and the two of them listened to the ambience of the coffee shop and its workers and customers.

“Let’s not talk about work,” Karl said. “What’s going on with you? I heard Eryka sent you a gift yesterday. She’s already a better friend than I am.”

Elise shook her head. “She’s not my friend.”

“Oh yeah? Cause when we met her earlier today—”

“I didn’t mean to cut short your line of questioning.”

Karl cleared his throat. “It’s fine, Elise. But I know she’s keeping something from us. When I asked her if she recognized the name _Koba_ , or _Kobra_ , it was like she turned her head at the name. She knows something, something big, and she’s not telling us.”

Elise stared at him, and from the look in his eyes knew he was telling the truth.

“All the better that I am not communicating with her.”

They did not speak of Eryka further.

Karl stared at her hand on the table, which was still close to his, and he looked up at her. He’s probably just staring at my eyeliner, Elise told herself.

“Do you ever get sick of our work, Karl?” Elise asked. It was a question she thought of whenever the two of them had tough times at work. “The high stakes. The stress. The difficulties.”

Karl pondered her question as he ate. “Sometimes,” he said. “The break I took working with the Public Protection Unit was long enough that I almost started to miss all the action.”

Elise stared at her drink, which was now half-full and room temperature.

“And besides,” Karl added, “It’s not like we go it alone. Getting to work with the French police is fun, we’ve all started to become such a team. I wouldn’t be surprised if our bosses started putting us together, if we make another breakthrough with this case like we did last year.”

“I would’ve thought,” responded Elise, “That you had gotten sick of all the rides in the Eurotunnel.”

Karl shrugged. “I get paid to sleep, what’s there not to love?”

Elise smiled.

“You’re not alone, Elise,” Karl said suddenly. “If you want to celebrate your birthdays, or even just go out every now and then, you’re not alone. You’ve got me. You’ve got BB and Louise and Philippe and Olivier. Heck we can even add Gaël to our group, why the hell not? The point is, at work, we’ve all sort of started to become a family, haven’t we?” He sipped from his cup. “We can all have our personal lives and our work separate, but it doesn’t mean we always have to go things alone.”

Elise nodded. “Sentimental Karl Roebuck,” she said. “I like this guy.”

Karl chuckled.

“Come on, let’s go,” he said. They payed for their drinks and departed.

* * *

Elise turned off her car in her parking space.

“We’re not going up?” Karl asked.

“Gaël is in the flat.”

“Oh. And I can’t come up because…?”

“I told him I was heading to work.”

Karl smiled in the passenger seat. “You’ve become quite the liar.”

Elise turned to him, offended.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way!” he corrected himself, seeing her expression. “Just stating a fact.”

They were both staring ahead, avoiding each other’s gazes, looking at the various other buildings nearby in the darkness of night. Elise was glad Karl didn’t ask why she had decided to spend the evening with him instead of her actual boyfriend.

“You seem tired,” she said.

“I feel tired. But we had a good time. Shame you left Gaël all alone up there. What’s going on with you two?” he asked, as Elise sighed.

“You are one to talk, Karl,” she replied. “What’s going on with you and Laura?”

“You’re always asking me about Laura,” Karl said, sniffing.

“That’s because you two are always fighting.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Maybe we are both making the same mistakes,” she said quietly.

Elise instantly regretted it. She saw Karl’s face turn blank from the corner of her eye. She turned to him. He had a shocked look on his face, but it was mostly confusion in interpreting Elise’s words.

Elise opened her mouth to speak, to say something, anything—but nothing would come out.

“I should go,” he said. He waited a moment, perhaps for Elise to say goodbye, but she said nothing.

Karl got out and closed the passenger door. Elise listened as he turned on his car and drove away.

She sat like that in her car for what felt like an eternity. And then, eventually, she returned to her flat, where the kind-hearted Gaël was waiting for her.


	3. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the events of Chapter 1, Karl and Elise struggle to figure out their relationship while still balancing their work lives.

Elise dreamed of The Chemist for the second day in a row. Even at her apartment, away from the hospital, the event where she nearly lost her life continued to replay in her mind. The needle was closing in on her eye… So close….

She awoke drenched in sweat, unsure of where she was until she blinked a few times in the early morning light. A wave of embarrassment overcame her as she realized she had fallen asleep with Karl the night before, but when she turned to right… Karl wasn’t there. Her flat was empty.

Elise turned to her left and grabbed her cellphone from a small cupboard, adrenaline pumping as she realized it was 10am and she was already an hour late for work. She looked through her texts. She had two from Karl, one from Philippe and two from Olivier.

 _“Sorry, I had to leave early for my boss,”_ Karl’s text said. _“And I didn’t want to wake you. It looks like we’ve got a new case, get here when you can!”_ He added: _“ & Don’t forget to take your meds! xx”_

Olivier’s text was more formal, with a hint of the sentiment that Olivier always had for her: _“Elise. I’ve made it back to Paris, lots of work to be done here. I’ve heard you have a case today with the English Police again! Work hard, and don’t forget to take breaks!”_

Finally, Philippe’s text was in French, in the joking manner that was common from him: _“My new boss gets to sleep in but I don’t?? What’s that about?! Had a late night eh? ;) ;)”_

Elise cleaned herself up and got dressed, and ate a quick breakfast while texting short replies to Olivier and Philippe.

 _“Will do. Good luck in Paris,”_ she texted Olivier.

 _“-__- Get back to work,”_ she wrote to Philippe.

She decided to call Karl instead of messaging him, and just as she was locking her apartment and walking down the hall, he answered.

“She’s awake!” he said in an amusing voice. He gave no indication as to his feelings about their night before. Elise’s face blushed as she remembered Karl calmly entering the shower, and his warm embrace as she had wrapped her arms around him.

“What’s up? I thought you were leaving,” she said casually, walking down the stairs.

Karl seemed about to make a joke, but he spoke seriously instead. “There’s a new case, not particularly related to us this time but our folks are still here and we might as well help.”

Elise frowned, walking at a fast pace. From a distance, she clicked a button to unlock the doors of her car. “I thought there were protocols in place for stuff like that.”

“To be doing police work in our own country?” Karl laughed on the other side. “I’d say France is in more danger right now. Every time I come here someone’s trying to burn everything down.”

Elise rolled her eyes. “I’m going to put you on speaker. Tell me about the case.”

And as Elise drove her car, Karl updated her about the small issue of a bank robbery gone wrong. The police had looked through the perpetrators apartment and found future plans of mostly petty crimes, but one, hidden within the drawers of the man’s desk, was revealed to be a convoluted outline for a terrorist attack. They were lucky they had found the information in time, but other key players were named on the papers, and it was their department's job to investigate the other suspects involved, and find out whether they were still going through with the plan (or a new one) without getting caught.

Elise and Karl spent the day buried in work, with Karl making his usual uplifting jokes, and for the most part, things were the same as any other day they worked together. But Elise could see, during the small moments when they had time to sit and breathe, that Karl vividly remembered the events of the previous evening. Elise struggled not to talk about it throughout the day, instead trying to focus on everything _except_ for the two of them and their “relationship”.

At the end of the work day, which had lasted until 17:00h, Elise leaned against a desk on which information files and police reports had been re-arranged and put into tall stacks. She waited for Karl to put on his jacket—he hadn’t even mentioned wanting going home with her, but they needed to _talk_ , and so Elise stayed behind.

“Later, bosses,” BB said with a wave of the hand. He wore a nice leather jacket that looked new. Elise nodded to him and Karl chuckled.

“Night, BB” Karl said, zipping up his own jacket.

BB turned back to Louise, who was wearing a long fashionable coat and looked a bit tired from the day, and the two of them intertwined their hands and walked out of the room towards, whispering and full of smiles. Elise stared at them enviously as they left.

She could see Karl staring at her from the corner of her eye.

“Ready?” he asked.

“We’re going to my place?” Elise said.

Karl nodded. “I’ll bring my car over again. Lead the way,” he said, bringing his arm out.

They walked out of the building like that: not touching, or holding hands, but walking together, comfortable and close enough to bump shoulders.

* * *

Elise parked her Porsche and immediately got out—she wondered why she was acting so strange but realized it was because she was nervous. Karl’s car parked a short distance away in a free parking spot, and by the time Elise reached it, he closed the car door behind him.

He stared at her.

“Elise,” he began, sighing her name more than saying it, and Elise didn’t give him any time to say anything more. She reached upwards and held his face lightly in her hands and kissed him.

He kissed her back, and she could feel his lips turning into a smile, but he kissed her again anyway. He held her hand and kissed the back of it as well, which made Elise smile, and they began walking towards her apartment.

They didn’t say anything until they reached her floor and Elise closed the door behind her.

“We should talk about yesterday,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“We should,” Karl said. “I should—I should talk to Laura too, though.”

Elise forced him to drop his heavy work-bag on the floor and she pushed him towards the chair in the kitchen. He sat on it, staring up at her in surprise. Elise, unsure of what to do other than that she wanted to be close to him, walked forward and sat on his legs, wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing him again, and then kissing his nose, his cheeks, and his ear. He held onto her thighs as she secured her ankles around the bottom legs of his chair.

Elise returned to his lips, and they kissed each other slowly, and then fast, as if they had already wasted too much time. They started kissing slower again when they started to run out of breath—Elise could feel her heart beating hard against her chest.

She bit Karl’s lip playfully which made him laugh, and he closed his eyes and leaned into her collarbone.

“Ugh,” he groaned, sounding pleased but tired. “What am I going to do, Elise.”

“Follow your instincts,” she said tiredly, her eyes half-closed. Elise kissed him on the forehead.

He looked up at her, his face serious now. “We can make this work,” he said. “BB and Louise are doing it, we can too. I’ll keep taking the Eurotunnel.”

Elise got up from his lap and sat on the table instead. “You don’t have to do that. I can take it instead.” She couldn’t help but smile, which caused Karl to smile back. Everything felt so natural, even conversation, and especially anything physical between them. They barely had to think when they were together; they just let their intuition and feelings take control.

“Laura will be upset,” Karl said, his face falling. “But she won’t be surprised.” He bowed his head, staring at the floor, and clasped his hands together.

“It’ll be okay, Karl,” Elise said, attempting to comfort him in a way, but how could she? She could not imagine how stressed he had been feeling about this.

“It’s been a long day,” Elise continued. “Why don’t I make us some food, and we can watch some tv? As friends. We’ll leave the rest of our work for tomorrow.”

Karl looked up tiredly. “Yes, I’d like that.” he said. “I’ll help out,” he added, standing and walking to the fridge.

Together, they made dinner, and they did not even touch each other once for the remainder of the evening. Towards the end of the night, Karl took the Eurotunnel to return home and have his difficult talk with Laura.


End file.
